(not) Free upgrade voucher is a TOTAL AND COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME AND EFFORT!!
Discuss today's stories:
-
Found this website after trying for weeks to use the upgrade voucher. Couldn’t understand why I had to use avios and pay for a free voucher! Worse still, my voucher doesn’t even work now as I downgraded my Barclay card account!!! I thought that since I’d earned it, it would remain mine to use, not so.
I tried to get Barclays to get it returned, they wouldn’t. I tried to get BA to return it to Barclays, they wouldn’t.
Added to this, trying to work out how to use the damn thing is ridiculously complicated. 3 of us flying to Prague return:
1. book one way outward flight and use upgrade voucher for 2 people, and pay the fee, and use more avios
2. book one way outward flight with avios for one person
3. book return flight with avios for 3 people economy.
AND I CAN’T EVEN WORK OUT HOW TO DO IT!!!
BA say you can do it by phone, but it’s £15 per person per flight. So that’s £90 for starters. Then there is the fee to pay to use the voucher. ABSOLUTELY NOT, NOT , NOT worth the bother, hassle and hours on the website (not to mention that half the time, the website isn’t working properly).Live and learn. Maybe the 7000 Avios points is a better option next time around? (I do this but since I don’t fly it’s kind of a no-brainer…)
Even if the voucher is badly called “upgrade voucher” I do not understand why you are surprised you have “to use avios and pay”.
The voucher allows you to pay the avios of a lower class: for instance, if you want to fly CE to Prague you pay the avios for economy.
You also seem to struggle to use it on trip for 3 people which is obvious as the voucher works for one or two people!
Each to their own, but personally I’d not spend a voucher on a flight to Prague. BA Club Europe is just a meal on the plane and, if you’re lucky, a special curtain to separate you from the riff-raff.
You barely have time to eat on a 1.5-2 hour flight. If you really want to fly CE, last time I flew CE to Prague the extra Avios equated to about £50 worth per person.
For me, Canary Islands seem to be a sweet spot for CE – fairly long flight time justifies the upgrade. Otherwise, upgrade to Premium Economy on a long-haul flight makes it slightly more bearable.
I fly to Czech Republic a couple of times a year and Ryanair is perfectly fine, for the price.
Worse still, my voucher doesn’t even work now as I downgraded my Barclay card account!!! I thought that since I’d earned it, it would remain mine to use, not so.
Was it in your British Airways account and it was removed or had you never claimed your award in the Barclays app upon meeting the £10,000 point threshold?
Live and learn.
Tbf this is quite harsh to OP, this voucher is very poorly communicated and coupled with BA’s website, it’s an extremely poor experience and a time-consuming effort which even for seasoned flyers can be tricky to figure out and find availability for. No emails about the voucher from BA, no explanation on the website, no easy way to see availability – they could make the customer experience better in so many ways, and it’s supposed to be a reward.
When i claimed my first voucher on BC+ then downgraded the voucher was still in my account to use no problem. Maybe OP never delected it or waited for it to apear in BA account but the story is strange as then went on to say issues ‘trying’ to use it so was it there or not?
Live and learn.
Tbf this is quite harsh to OP, this voucher is very poorly communicated and coupled with BA’s website, it’s an extremely poor experience and a time-consuming effort which even for seasoned flyers can be tricky to figure out and find availability for. No emails about the voucher from BA, no explanation on the website, no easy way to see availability – they could make the customer experience better in so many ways, and it’s supposed to be a reward.
Agreed.
I’m treating it as a bonus side effect of owning a card that generates Avios and is accepted everywhere pretty much.
Shame the 7k alternative came after I’d earned two vouchers.I was getting this voucher annually through Barclays Premier but I’ve opted out now unless BA stops forcing us to use the ‘max Avios, min cash’ option. I understand why, unlike the Amex 241, the sliding scale of Avios/cash has not been implemented for this voucher. But despite the decent Avios ‘saving’, the large number of Avios needed to make a decent redemption is off-putting now.
I also don’t understand how the voucher has been taken away if OP had already tried to use it (so it must have been in the BAEC account).
It is fiddly to use and get decent value out of but the Ts and Cs are quite easy to find, what was the OP expecting from it?
As noted, short haul is generally not the best use, though as also noted, flights over 3 hours where cash prices are very high can be a good use of the voucher.
There is no fee to pay to use the voucher if you use it online.
There are charges to pay as part of the ticket that everyone pays when using avios – they aren’t free tickets!
I think you’re making the booking far more complicated than it needs to be.
I think booking like this would be far simpler and others may have alternative suggestions.
1 – book for yourself into CE using the voucher paying however many economy avios and cash it is.
2 – book the other two people on one ticket using pure avios and cash.
True the tickets won’t be linked in anyway but TBH that usually makes little difference anyway.
And this can all be done online so no extra booking fees to pay.
But OP says voucher is no longer working since she downgraded her account 🤷♀️
But OP says voucher is no longer working since she downgraded her account 🤷♀️
Which makes it even more confusing. If the OP hasn’t got the voucher then why call BA and try to redeem it!
OP comes on, has a big shouty rant, doesn’t ask question or for advice (so I don’t even understand the point of the tje post), then disappears. Meanwhile many nice helpful regulars on here rack their brains to work out what has happened. I admire your patience but given the tone of the original post, I wouldn’t be wasting my time on it.
@Scott. Agreed wholeheartedly.
By the way, where does the voucher show up in your BA account ….. I seem to be going round in circles ! Thanks.Should appear in the My eVouchers section of your BAEC Account page
It’s hard to describe where but they usually appear as an option when you start searching for an avios flight and they become an option to use.
IIRC there is also a separate section on your main account page once logged in.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Popular articles this week:
